Ball retrieval and storage devices are particularly useful during tennis practice sessions to collect tennis balls off the ground for storage in a cavity of the device. Some devices are designed to permit ball collection without requiring the operator to reach all the way to the ground to pick up the tennis balls. For example, the bottoms of the devices may be equipped with openings designed to capture tennis balls on the ground when the devices are placed over the balls and pressed downward. The devices may be further equipped with a handle for the operator to grasp and apply the downward force. The downward force of the device compresses a ball and forces it through the opening and into the cavity.
Generally, conventional tennis ball retrieval and storage devices are not nestable with one another. The device handles prevent the devices from stably nesting in one another in a stacked relationship. As a consequence, the devices must be transported, e.g., carried, separately from one another, making it difficult for an operator to transport by hand more than two devices at any one time. The inability to nest the devices also adds to storage space requirements.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,460 discloses a sports ball retrieval and storage device purported to permit receptacles of multiple devices to nest with one another. The device includes a pair of support members convertible between a stand position and a handle position. In the handle position, however, the support members obstruct the receptacles from nesting with one another.